/ Snakes alive !!!! at Boulder Ruckle

Another fantastic day at Swanage complete with all the usual scary stuff, but this time with the addition of an adder.
Walking along the path and nearly stepped on her !!!
Are they common there this time of year ?
Also anyone picked up any ticks ?

In reply to Ciderslider: I can beat that, last week on the 5th pitch of a apperzoine cristo verde (sp?) In orco a viper jumped out of a crack at me and rolled off down the slab, I squealed like a child.

There are adders all over Northumberland, seen a fair few. I took a photo of one at Peel Crag, my phone was about 5cm away from it's head and precisely 0.067 seconds after I took the photo, it opened its jaw and lashed out to bite my phone. I thought it was going to get my finger that was sticking out over the side of the phone but instead it just banged it's nose on my phone. I wasn't too worried about getting bitten by an adder until I learned that it could be fatal =/

In South Africa the majority of snake bite deaths result fron people poking the snake with a stick (followed by people inadvertently treading on one). Not certain if sticks are now being replaced by phones/cameras but they all appear threatening in the snake's eye.

In reply to Ciderslider and y2keable: Great that you saw one of these fantastic creatures!

From the posts here, it is clear that these are not aggressive creatures and will only react when provoked. While dangerous and extremely painful, adder bites are not generally lethal if treated in good time.

I'd hate to think that any animal was put in the position that it felt it necessary to waste its precious venom (the only means it has to hunt and eat) as defence against a camera. I commend the interest, please take as many photos as you can - but please don't harm or stress these creatures unnecessarily.

Being flat to the ground they will generally feel the vibrations as you walk and clear off into safety before you see them, so you are lucky to see them. Biting is self-defence, not aggression and even then they will often not waste their precious poison (needed for killing their prey).

Whilst the bite may be unpleasant fatalities are incredibly rare. Their poison isn't in the same league as many foreign venomous snakes, plus you are never far from a hospital in the UK so can get prompt treatment.

> I'd hate to think that any animal was put in the position that it felt it necessary to waste its precious venom (the only means it has to hunt and eat) as defence against a camera. I commend the interest, please take as many photos as you can - but please don't harm or stress these creatures unnecessarily.

I have great respect for the countryside I live in and especially it's wildlife. I hope it goes without saying but I'd never do anything to bring an adder to harm. I remember one time when I was riding over the Cheviot, I set my bike down to have a rest and a drink. Little did I know that the rock I rested my bike on was already occupied by a snoozing adder. I sat on the rock, sucking on my water bottle and thinking it was making an odd sort of sound. The hissing wasn't coming from my bottle! Once I spotted the snake, I stood up and it slithered off into the long grass. I realised it was pretty stressed but it was the last thing I expected to see sitting next to me.

On the occasion at Peel, I clocked it as I was racking up. I was stood pretty close to it and it didn't seem to be that bothered. I noticed it was waving its tongue at me so it was aware of my presence and yet it wasn't making a run for it. Holding my phone in front of it didn't appear to be causing it any stress, though in hindsight, why wouldn't it?

A few years ago I used to live and climb in the South African Transvaal. We took anti snake bite serum to the crag just in case we got bitten. Only thing was, you had to know what sort of snake bit you, So you knew whether the symptoms were neurotoxic or Hemotoxic before you could inject. Thankfully I never saw or had the need to use it.
Some of the south African climbers I new at the time didn't think much of picking up poisonous snakes by hand and milking their venom.
Beautiful creatures though.

I've been bitten by harvester mites before at swanage, they dissolve your skin! By far the most itchy thing I've ever been bitten by. A 50/50 mixture of tea tree and lavender oil used neat works wonders.

The way it's pulled it's head back, it doesn't surprise me that it went on to strike. FWIW once they strike you don't have a chance to react before thy impact, as their movement is faster than a humans reaction time.

It's not unusual for snakes to "rattle" their tail in long grass as a warning (just like rattle snakes do) to back off. As you found out though, if you give them an escape route generally they will take it.

In reply to Jenny C: Thanks y2keable so much for the photo. Yeah, it's loaded and ready to go from the looks of it, definitely in a defensive pose.

If there any snake enthusiasts out there, I found out some very interesting news about my own childhood pet the other day. Did you know that garter snakes are in fact rear fanged and mildly venomous?! I was very surprised to find this out.

Apparently their fangs are recessed into the gum so they need to chew it into prey and the venom causes nothing more than an inflammation of the wound in humans. These little snakes seem a little weak compared to a frog and seem to feed just by overpowering their prey. I suppose the venom helps weaken the animal so they can swallow it without having to get macho and overpower it. Fascinating.

In reply to rlines:
When I was climbing in Owens River Gorge we saw lots of what I was told were Garter Snakes. Someone said that sometimes they do interbreed with rattlers. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? For my brush with a rattler see my photo gallery!